Now Loic Moonmattress has returned to see out the year with another EP, Last Nostalgia, and as the title suggests, the collection builds upon the themes of its predecessor to explore ideas of memory and fondness. Again drawing upon a diverse range of influences, the songs combine lush ambient textures with hip hop and bedroom pop sensibilities to weave soundscapes at once expansive and intimate, delving into the small, personal moments to excavate the full warmth within.

The title track of the EP is a great place to jump in. A perfect example of the patient, slow-moving style, with Loic Moonmattress taking the time to examine a specific moment in all of its varied, wistful texture. “[It’s] a song about the clarity, overwhelm, and sense of finality that comes with looking backward on era of ones life that has just come to pass,” the artist describes. The result is something touching, melancholic and more than a match for its title. An attempt to preserve a fleeting moment in sound.

The post Loic Moonmattress – Last Nostalgia appeared first on Various Small Flames.

kiddxdeep combines influences effortlessly, skittering beats and repeated piano lines and slow grooving guitar work. ‘Pt. 1’ opens like a beaten-up old jazz tape, all stumbling beats and periods of negative space, before hitting its stride and becoming full and all-enveloping. The middle track, titled ‘[ntrmish]_riding_switch’, is chill and laidback, which heralds the vibes on ‘Pt. 2’, which is almost hypnotic in its recurring beats and effortless rhythm.

While the demo works as easy-listening chillout material, don’t make the mistaking of thinking this is the pastel-hued paper-thin background music that clogs up your Youtube feed.  kiddxdeep also embeds the odd vocal sample, from the likes of Malcolm X, which serve as reminders that while its okay to use music to help you dissociate yourself from our social and political hellscape, it’s equally important to educate yourself too.

The release comes complete with a visual accompaniment by _GUD. Check it out below:

Stream Imperfections Suite over at the kiddxdeep Soundcloud page.

The post kiddxdeep – Imperfections suite appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Chinatown, San Francisco is built from an array of beats, ambient textures and lo-fi pop jams, a sound that is avant garde but not ostentatious. This is all the more impressive as Burton does not use samples, with each element 100% original and crafted especially for its place on the record. The result is vivid and varied, a kind of neon-dripped nocturnal pop that draws on R&B and improvisational jazz, as well as the ominous air of the hauntological Ghost Box sound.

‘You’re All Strangers To Me’ opens in typical disorientating fashion, immediately setting out a hostile, boisterous environment in a style somewhere between Burial and Death Grips. However, follow-up ‘Turf War In Chinatown, SF’ tones down the aggression in favour of something more subtle and pervasive, revealing both the talent of Burton and the triumph of his record. For all of its noise and strangeness, Myshiuno’s music feels organic, lived in, the collision of styles bringing to life the late capitalist milieu of sadness and violence and constant movement.

So rather than just an aggressive in-your-face narrative about gangs and loyalties, Myshiuno instead captures an entire world. The identity and meaning drawn from such a situation, the loneliness too. The addiction and suffering that underpins the whole scenario, a storm brewed by decades of power imbalances and political apathy, not to mention the cultural encouragement to earn and own.

Whether it be the swagger of ‘Scrambled Eggs’, with its eddies of frantic tempo playing like a running street brawl, or the intangible and fleeting light of ‘Epiphany’, Myshiuno has crafted a collection snapshots of young life within, or under, such a system. And young the tone is, with recognisable blend of humour and melodrama, bravado and playful irony one minute (‘lmao’, ‘I Showed Them My Knife :^D’) and deadly seriousness the next (‘I Hold My Dead Best Friend In My Arms’). This is the product of such a style, where attempt at grand explanations is forgone in favour of on the ground, first-person experiences—life as it unfolds for young people, meaning everything and nothing at once.

Chinatown, San Francisco is out now and you can get it from the Myshiuno Bandcamp page.

The post Myshiuno – Chinatown, San Francisco appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The resulting album, Testarossa, “captures the emotional turbulence that Maddy & Davy endure as their relationship and lives slowly decay”, which apparently includes a pregnancy, a proposal, a wedding, music touring, touring failure, musical failure, musical perseverance and adultery (in that order). As the press release puts it:

“The sentiment distils the slow decay of the album.  It’s a high-concept examination of lives crumbling.  The despair of a lovable underdog who chased his dreams so relentlessly that he lost those he loved the most. He misses his kids, but still lives a debauched life away.”

You can have a listen to the track ‘Madeline’ below to get an idea of what broken dreams and crumbling lives sound like

Testarossa is set for release on the 6th May via Joyful Noise Recordings, and you can pre-order it now on black or bone vinyl.

The post Yoni & Geti announce Testarossa appeared first on Various Small Flames.

As we wrote in our previous review, Mal Devisa’s music defies any one genre, instead favouring an organic oscillation between folk, pop, soul and hip-hop, and Kiid is a case in point. ‘Fire’ opens with gentle strummed guitar, Devisa’s vocals carrying things along with thoughts on anxieties and hopes for relief. As the track progresses the vocals grow in fervour, the instrumentation creaking at the seams before unravelling into noise.

“Fire in my brain
will you make it okay?

Does it kill you to know that we’re all dying?
It kills me to know”.

In an album that switches between genre so readily, it is Carr’s lyrics which act as the binding force. ‘In My Neighbourhood’ sees the first hip-hop crossed with pop to create something like tUnE-yArdS, ‘Everyone Knows’ is a near-jazzy number where Carr’s voice takes centre stage, and ‘Live Again’ is an indie folk croon akin to the older Cold Specks releases, though all are linked by the sincere, probing writing and startling vocal range. ‘FAT’ opens with heavy bass and descends into urgent, frenzied verses, only to segue into the sombre, soulful ‘Sea of Limbs’ tracks. Both the intro and the main track see Devisa stretch her vocals to their limits, flickering from breathy whispers to wide, top-of-the-lungs gospel songs that would fill any room. The open heart is matched in the lyrics too, with the main message stated with stirring forthrightness.

“You were solid,
you’re everything they told you could not be and more.
You were solid”

‘Daisy’ is a short, evocative pop song that smoulders along with a solid beat (“Oh Daisy, Daisy, I have seen too much of you / You’re driving me crazy with that bad attitude”), while ‘Forget That I’ is a slow piano ballad which ebbs and flows, falling somewhere between Sharon van Etten and Nina Simone. Closer ‘Dominatrix’ switches the mood again, a frenetic hip-hop song like performance poetry where the mood has been condensed into loops and played behind. The track finds Devisa at her most angry and assured, confident in the truth behind her attack on the white, patriarchal grip on culture.

“Messing around I wrote a masterpiece
enough apologies I got caught up in my dreams.
Now I go by Mal Devisa,
avid rapper she’s a preacher
a non-conformist, non-believer”

Kiid is a personal record and plays like condensed version of life, reaching high and falling low, crackling and bursting and simmering under the surface, at times exploding in urgent streams of consciousness as if the words and thoughts can no longer be held in. This is an album that refuses to be reduced to something easily describable, persevering in it’s complexity against the binarizing forces of anxiety or genre or gender or race. Kiid isn’t a self-doubt record or political record, nor a sad record or a happy record. It’s not jazz or gospel or indie rock. Kiid is everything. Kiid is whatever it wants to be.

You can buy Kiid now from the Mal Devisa Bandcamp page, and Mal Devisa compilation cassette from the DZ Tapes Bandcamp page.

The post Mal Devisa – Kiid appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Remember, while it’s always tempting to put a big fat zero for ‘name your price’ releases, you can give a little something. Bands need to eat too, and would doubtless appreciate even the smallest donation for their efforts. You’ll want them to appear in your Bandcamp collection anyway, so you’ll have to give something.

Alanna McArdle – Reticular (REVIEW) / Bedroom/Balloons (REVIEW)
(RIYL: folk, bedroom pop, sad, Sarah Winchester)

Ama Moii – Flown (REVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom, ambient, lo-fi, soft music)

Andrew Weathers – I Am Happy When I Am Moving
(RIYL: experimental, cosmic Appalachian mountain tunes)

Animal Camera – Aniimal Crackers
(RIYL: noise pop, psychedelic ARMS)

Beverly Tender – Lord Mayor Makes 1000 Speeches
(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Baby Mollusk, Whatever Dad)

The Bombshells – Bake Sale Hotties
(RIYL: riot grrl, The Runaways, Le Tigre)

Big Eater – In Between
(RIYL: laidback indie pop, Yo La Tengo, Mac DeMarco)

Blue Smiley – OK
(RIYL: lo-fi, fuzz rock, Alex G)

Bobby’s Oar – The Weeds in Your Garden
(RIYL: folk-punk, Among Giants, The Front Bottoms)

Boosegumps – / B-Sides (REVIEW 1 | REVIEW 2 | INTERVIEW)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, acoustic, Free Cake For Every Creature)

Brightside – The World Reversed
(RIYL: indie pop, pop-punk, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die)

Brittle Brian – Verisune
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Frankie Cosmos, Bellows)

Broken Beak – Curse Burner
(RIYL: bedroom pop, Modern Baseball)

Bryant Eugene Vazquez – Blue Hours
(RIYL: folk, lo-fi, Wes Tirey, M. Ward)

Captain Samurai – Hey Thanks Goodbye
(RIYL: indie rock, soft punk, LVL UP)

CATAPHANT – Half Dead EP
(RIYL: hip hop, experimental, pop)

Cat Be Damned – Six Songs
(RIYL: ambient, Ricky Eat Acid, the sounds of space)

Catholic Easter Colours – Not the Silence That Was There Before
(RIYL: indie pop, cinematic rock, ambient)

Cemeteries – Barrow
(RIYL: ambient, experimental, dream pop)

Clams – PDA Queen
(RIYL: lo-fi, indie pop, bedroom pop)

src=”http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/a3515065540_10.jpg” alt=”a3515065540_10″ width=”550″ height=”550″ />

Coffee Pot – &
(RIYL: fuzz rock, psych, lo-fi)

src=”http://www.varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/a2818963354_10.jpg” alt=”a2818963354_10″ width=”550″ height=”550″ />

Colour Me Brittle – The First Bad Man
(RIYL: lo-fi, jangle pop, twee indie)

Coping Skills – Everything is stupid + I Hate it
(RIYL: riot grrrls, bummer pop, Cyberbully Mom Club)

Cuddle Formation – ⊙﹏⊙ ♫･​*​:​.​｡. .｡​.​:​*​･ (demos)
(RIYL: bedroom pop, guitar loops, devotional)

We’ll be sharing a new section of the list every day this week, so be sure to check back for the complete collection. If you find something you like, or think we missed something life-changing, then why not let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or good old email.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2015: A – C appeared first on Various Small Flames.

RIYL: Fiona Apple, Cold Specks, genre-bending folk

Favourite Tracks:

You can buy 4U right now from Mal Devisa’s Bandcamp page, along with a few other bits and pieces.

P.S. Devisa also records as MAL, which is another direction entirely. Listen below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV6GWUHEBSY

The post Flash Review: Mal Devisa – 4U appeared first on Various Small Flames.

“The Late Night Music evenings showed that museums can be innovative, adaptable and welcoming to all, centres of the community rather than simple tourist novelties. All it takes are some determined people with imagination. Not only does it serve to interest the disinterested (the people who feel museums aren’t for them or else visit once in a blue moon and skip to the dinosaurs) it also gives a productive, progressive outlet for the energy that would otherwise be wasted gum-bumping and foot-stamping by those who already appreciate the value a museum can hold. What better way to ensure the survival of an institute than to make it central to the lives and well-being of the people it serves?”

Well, good news! The evenings must have been a success because another has been organised for late October. Again presented by Spillers Records, three more acts have been lined-up to capture your imaginations and get you into the museum. Doors open at 7pm, giving you a chance to explore the museum at night (the clocks will have gone back by then!) before the bands start at 7:30. You can read a little more about the artists invloved below:

Alex Dingley

Alex Dingley is a songwriter from Llansteffan, west Wales, who makes indie pop along the lines of the 00’s twee bands if they were polluted/purified by the weirdness of Cats in Paris or Connan Mockasin. Check out ‘One Size Fits All’ below to see what I mean:

Mike Dennis

Fresh from his successful set last time around, Mike Dennis returns with his unique brand of classically-trained hip-hop. Back in May we described how he “utilis[ed] loops and effects pedals to build a dense tangle of sound, and as he began to recite his verses a crowd gathered, drawn by lyrics covering everything from bad bosses to the insanity of firearms”, so goodness knows what is in store this time.

Roundheels

Roundheels is a shiny new collaboration between Cardiff’s Jemma Roper (formerly of Sammo Hung and Heck) and producer Charlie Francis. Using Roper’s voice, a Mini-Moog and an array of virtual instruments, they make what can only be described as intelligent dance music – a guitarless amalgamation of The Knife, Kate Bush and Fever Ray. There’s not much to go on in terms of online presence (this will be their live début!), but check out their first single below:

You can buy tickets in advance (£5) from Ticketline or Spillers Records or pay £7 on the door.

–

The post The Return of Late Night Music in the Museum appeared first on Various Small Flames.

NAH – WOE

(RIYL: hip hop, noise, Death Grips)

Naked Days – Chai Knees

(RIYL: indie pop, lo-fi, Neutral Milk Hotel, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)

Names – Billow Green

(RIYL: experimental, folk, Akron/Family)

Nana Grizol – Night Lights I-III & Tacoma Centre 1600(free d/l but donations go to charity!)

(RIYL: indie rock, punk pop)

Nathaniel – Fellatio

(RIYL: hip hop, soul, steamy jams)

Nature Walker – Clairvoyance

(RIYL: experimental, ambient, psych, lo-fi)

NEO – Snufkin Left, Never to Return

(RIYL: Strange things, Final Fantasy soundtracks, Moominwave)

Nice Legs – Lullaby Land

(RIYL: dream pop, lo-fi, Twin Sister. Song: Two)

Noah Young – Colorado

(RIYL: folk, singer-songwriter, Blind Pilot, Bright Eyes)

Nouns – Still

(RIYL: indie rock, punk, heavy emotion)

Of Us Giants – Nova Scotia

(RIYL: Punk, Hardcore, Manchester Orchestra)

Oh, Rose – 1919

(RIYL: indie rock, Angel Olsen, Mitski)

Old Amica – Fabula

(RIYL: ambient, experimental, electronic folk)

Orchid Tapes – Boring Ecstasy: The Bedroom Pop of Orchid Tapes (Compilation)

(RIYL: bedroom pop, ambient, dream pop, Orchid Tapes)

Orlok – Linear Story of a Relationship

(RIYL: electronic, ambient, dream pop)

Oquoa – S/T

(RIYL: folk, Americana, Great American Desert)

Painted Zeroes – S V A L B A R D

(RIYL: indie rock, “dream punk”, The Pixies)

The Past – AIRLESS

(RIYL: pop, experimental, Fang Island)

Petrichoral – S/T EP

(RIYL: surf rock, summer jams, The Beach Boys)

Pill Friends – Fade Into Nothing

(RIYL: indie rock, punk, lo-fi)

Piqua – Finds God

(RIYL: lo fi, punk folk, Defiance, Ohio)

QUARTERBACKS – Quarterboy

(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, Radiator Hospital, Julia Brown)

Radiator Hospital – Torch Song

(RIYL: power pop, bedroom rock, Born Ruffians)

Real Life Buildings – It Snowed

(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, bedroom pop)

Real Swell – Dull Dreams

(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, Happy Trendy)

Remambran – Drawing Out Cassette

(RIYL: indie rock, lo-fi, Krill)

Rick Ross – Bright Moon Cottage

(RIYL: experimental, electronic, samples)

Ricky Eat Acid – Three Love Songs (D/L here)

(RIYL: ambient, electronic bedroom pop, film scores)

rituals. – Ceramic Spaces

(RIYL: ambient, experimental, new age)

Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2

(RIYL: hip hop, rap, Killer Mike, Danny Brown)

Favourite Free Music of 2014 (N-R) from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2014 (N-R) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

I Am Planet – Silene stenophylla

(RIYL: piano, soundtrack, minimalist)

Indian Bummer – bummer wars

(RIYL: bedroom pop, indie pop, DIY)

i tried to run away when i was six (but got too scared to cross the street) – Garbage / It’s So Nice

(RIYL: singer-songwriter, indie rock, lo-fi, sad)

Ikea Graveyard – Stray

(RIYL: acoustic, bedroom pop, a lo-fi Cold Specks)

Jacob Faurholt – Corners

(RIYL: indie rock, alternative, BOAT)

Japanese Breakfast – American Sound

(RIYL: bedroom pop, dream pop, Little Big League)

Jim Lawrie – Just Like Normal / Midnight Run

(RIYL: indie rock, country, The Rosebuds)

John Galm – Sky of No Stars

(RIYL: bleak folk, Low, a slow motion Mountain Goats)

Kerry – Away

(RIYL: electronic)

Kissed Her Little Sister – Mbube

(RIYL: indie pop, experimental, hip hop, reggae)

Kissing Fractures – Lost Self (you have to email to get this free)

(RIYL: acoustic, bedroom pop, poetry)

Kississippi – I Can Feel You In My Hair Still

(RIYL: bedroom pop, lo-fi, sad)

Klondike – AFRICA to MIDI

(RIYL: electronic, experimental, hi-tech tribal rythms)

KOOL A.D. – WORD O.K.

(RIYL: jazz, hip hop, Das Racist)

Laurence – It’s Real

(RIYL: dream pop, ambient, Youth Lagoon)

Lesjovka & Freund – Mold on Canvas

(RIYL: ambient, classical, sad movie soundtracks, Trouble Books)

Ligaments / Squanto – Split

(RIYL: electronic, drone, ambient)

Lost Film – Demo

(RIYL: dream pop, jangle, Orca Orca, The Smiths)

Mallory – To The Hollow Night (the band ask for donations to the people of Gaza)

(RIYL: folk, Spencer Krug, Wake Owl)

Mark Barrage – Surplus Behaviour

(RIYL: electronic, experimental, samples)

Matthew Lee Cothran and Delaney Mills – Failure II

(RIYL: bedroom pop, electronic folk, Coma Cinema)

The Meanest Creature Ever Known – You, Having Fun

(RIYL: slowcore, quiet, sad, Scottish, Meursault)

Mermaidens – O

(RIYL: dream pop, indie rock, psych)

Missing Organs – Undiscovered

(RIYL: experimental, drone, dreams)

Molly Dancer – Ripstick Can’t Jump

(RIYL: bedroom pop, odd power pop, lo-fi)

mooncreatures – Gaslamps / Sand Maps

(RIYL: shoegaze, lo-fi, ambient, cinematic soundscapes)

Movies – Horror Movies

(RIYL: bedroom pop, experimental, Los Campesinos, Arrange)

Favourite Free Music of 2014 (I-M) from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

The post Favourite Free Music of 2014 (I-M) appeared first on Various Small Flames.